My childhood friend Frank Shelp has been here  for several days.

I picked him up at the Bufflalo airport, getting a flat tire just as I arrived.  (I ran over a piece of metal that got imbedded in the tire.)  We spent the next hour assembling his bike from the box he carried it in.  Turned out to be perfect timing, as I could repair my flat, and we could wait out a torrential rain that arrived just then.

We stayed at a motel in Buffalo that would probably not pass the Fussy Girlfriend Test, and it was sadly the last night of cousin Jenn’s week on the trip.  We ate her farewell dinner at the Anchor Bar, where Buffalo wings were invented.  Not bad, but also indistinguishable from other good ones I’ve had elsewhere.

The other regional food find was roast beef on weck.  Weck is a roll with caraway seeds dipped in a salty brine and allowed to dry.  Tasty, but salty.

The next day, we crossed into Ontario at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo.  There we ran into Erin, who volunteered to be our tour guide for the first 10 miles of our time in Canada.  She did everything from showing us the best cycling routes to telling us which restaurants to eat at.

The day started great, with Erin’s help, but things turned bad at the end.  We misjudged the distance, and the day turned out to be 75 miles, rather than the 55 expected.  This is a terrible, horrible, very bad way to start a tour.  I almost killed Frank through my bad planning.  Then as we descended to our destination, down the face of the Niagara escarpment, I popped a spoke.  Plus we couldn’t find our hotel and it almost became dark before we rolled in.

The next day, we found a bike shop open on Sunday (All the Right Gears in Hamilton, ON).  The mechanic there, Michael, did a great job of the repair and some other preventive maintenance.

We also met the shop owner, Sam.  We waited out a rainstorm and were there for a couple of hours, admiring the hundreds of bike gizmos that are available these days.  Sam donated a couple of inner tubes to both of us for our trip, a very generous gesture.

From there we made our way north across Ontario.  Heading toward the Bruce Peninsula.  We visited Elora, an amazing historic village.  Frank has photos I may add later.

We eventually made our way up the Bruce Peninsula, staying near Lion’s Head, a very charming town.  It’s also a dark sky refuge.  Hooray!

For dinner, we went to the restaurant (Ukranian!) next door, which closed at 7.  (Maybe you city folk like your restaurants open until 8, but not here!)  Sadly, we got there at 7:15  The owner kindly made us yummy fish and chips, even though we arrived late.  F&C turns out to be another regional delicacy.  It is especially good made from fresh Great Lakes whitefish.

For breakfast I tried peameal bacon for the first time.  This was a local food recommended by Erin.

As may be clear, I’m trying to sample regional food specialties.  Unfortunately, peameal bacon ends up being an awful lot like Canadian bacon.

On my food quest, I’ve also had maple donuts at Tim Horton’s and poutine several places.  The latter is fries smothered in cheese and gravy.  Perfect for cycling.

The other thing Tim Horton used to be famous for were butter pies.  You see them all over this part of Ontario.  Luscious, sweet, buttery tarts that a hungry cyclist can eat in two bites.  Here’s  a tray-full I saw in one shop.  Or maybe they were just in my handlebar bag.

We took the ferry to Manitoulin Island.  It’s mainly woods and a few pretty farms.  Here’s one.

We stayed in Providence Bay, a lovely, sleepy town on the south side of the island.